Finding Life's Second Truth
by FlameXFullmetal
Summary: Harry knew that not everyone could be trusted. He knew that Dumbledore was playing a dangerous game. What he didn't know was what to make of the blond enigma that made his way into Harry's already confusing life. Then again neither did Edward or Roy.
1. Reflections

Disclaimer: I do not own either Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood or Harry Potter. I do not make any money off of these stories, although it would be helpful. This story was purely the work of a bored mind and I claim ownership of only the idea driving the story.

FlameXFullmetal: Hello there I just wanted to go over a few things before I get started. First of all this is a Roy/Ed/Envy, Harry/Draco, Blaise/Hermione, Neville/Pansy fic. I despise Winry, Ron, Narcissa, Dumbledore and have my moments where I cannot stand all of the Weasley family but the twins. So there will be bashing of the worst kind. If I manage to confuse something, misspell a word, or otherwise mutilate my story to badly please tell me so I can get a beta reader. My spelling and grammar are near perfect but that does not mean that they are full proof. This story uses elements from the original FMA story line and FMA Brotherhood. For example, in FMA Envy has a really cool dragon form but in Brotherhood he looks like a melting T-Rex. Therefore, his original form will be from FMA and not Brotherhood. However, I prefer the Brotherhood plot line better than the original. To me it makes more sense. Although, I will not discredit the original plot line's different sides of the gate theory, I like that idea as it gives so much potential. I will not have Hohenheim die nor will Ed lose his alchemy. Roy will regain his eyesight as it is planned in Brotherhood however, it will be earlier than the original plot. This story is post-promised day and takes place during Harry's fifth year. I WILL NOT LEAVE Harry with the Dursley's. Some of the other points of the story will be made clear later as this AN is getting to long for my liking.

***********************************************************************Finding Life's Second Truth************************************************************************

If there was anything that Harry had learned in his last year at Hogwarts it was that not everyone was who they seemed to be. People could change and it was not always for the better. It was because of this that Harry had begun questioning his friends, allies and enemies since his first year in Hogwarts. After a whole month of review he had determined that either he had the worst luck in the history of luck or he was being manipulated very well. The first thing that he had realized was that even though he had not been entered into the Triwizard tournament legally Dumbledore had made no move to have him removed from it either. He knew that there had to be a way out of it as every contract had a loophole. However, Dumbledore had not even tried to find it. Thus he had been trapped in the tournament and even he had to realize that he wasn't ready for a tournament of that caliber. His skills while somewhat higher than some of his peers in certain subjects were still not enough for that, in his opinion, barbaric tournament. That had led him to the second of the revelations he had made about his last school year. If Dumbledore was in fact as observant and all knowing as every one claimed he was then why didn't he notice that the teacher was a fake? In addition, to that Dumbledore had supposedly worked with this very person and could not tell that there was something wrong with him. So that led to one of two possibilities in Harry's mind and neither of them was promising. Either Dumbledore really was senile or he had knowingly and willingly allowed a possible threat to stay in the school without searching for the real teacher. Naturally this would make anyone uncomfortable. However after analyzing all of his other school years he was leaning heavily towards the second option. In his third year it was revealed to Harry that his innocent Godfather had been arrested and imprisoned for killing his parents and being a supporter of Voldemort. However, what had annoyed Harry to no end was that Dumbledore had acted like he had known that Sirius Black was innocent the whole time and that he had done nothing to assist him at the trial and at the school. This had ended with Harry not being allowed to live with his godfather like he had wanted, but his godfather having to run for his life and be wary about going outside.

Then there was second year in which Dumbledore had knowingly kept from Harry that Voldemort may have transferred some of his abilities to Harry and had let him suffer the whole year while knowing that the whole school believed that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. Furthermore he had done nothing to try and find the Chamber of Secrets _and _had almost invited Harry to go look for it. He had also knowingly hired the fraud Lockhart but had done nothing to ensure that he was qualified to teach DADA. This had led to the whole year of lessons being useless. Finally in his very first year he had invited Harry into the school knowing that one of his staff had been acting strangely since an encounter with a dark creature and had not checked to see the lasting effects of said encounter nor had he inquired as to which creature had been encountered. After doing an endless array of research he had discovered that any number of creature encounters could have left the man as a safety hazard and the fact that he had a face growing out of the back of his head could not have been overlooked by healers. As such no one even him, had questioned why Dumbledore had been summoned away around the end of the year and no one had been making sure that the traps had not been bypassed and/or tinkered with. This had led him to believe that they had been told that someone else was checking on them and had ensured that they had not been bypassed. Seeing as Quirrel had _not _been one of the ones that had laid a trap for seekers of the stone he had to assume that Dumbledore had not thought him trustworthy enough to protect it. So then _why _did he not keep a better eye on him? Rubbing his head and leaning back at his rickety desk Harry stared at the ceiling and sighed at the long list of reasons why Dumbledore was no longer trustworthy. Then he moved that sheet of paper to the side and began on his friend's list. He had very few personal friends and he knew that most of the people in the school could not be counted as his friend and had thus not gained a high level of trust from him.

The first thing he did was make a list for Hermione and almost immediately declared her trustworthy. She had done very little to break his trust and had barely reacted to his fame. He had actually had to try to get her as his friend and he could tell that she was still guarded about herself and still looking for a sign of betrayal from her friends. The twins had also quickly made their way to his allies list as they had been very open about how they had reacted to certain actions and had never tried to deceive him. If they had wanted to fool him they never would have given him the marauder's map in third year as they could easily have given themselves away. Then he looked at Ron. The endless reasons why he couldn't trust him had made the reasons why he could nonexistent. In first year Ron had almost made himself as close as possible to Harry and barely left his side. His actions were almost reminiscent of Wormtail to the original marauders. As soon as Ron had heard his name he had gone into an endless spree about the school and the wizarding world that had seemed helpful at first but now seemed like it had been done in order to lower his guard. Then as soon as he had gotten to the school Ron was almost too quick to point out that Slytherin house had a bad reputation and had somehow steered his determination to be in Gryffindor. He had not mentioned the other two houses and had made sure to dodge all of the questions that Harry had asked about them on the train. He was quick to alienate those that were intelligent to the circle that he had formed around himself and almost everyone in the circle had seemed to be fascinated with the fame that he had garnered by being the boy-who-lived. If it hadn't been for Harry, Hermione may have never joined his inner circle of friends. Ron had also nearly alienated Harry last year when he got pissed off about Harry's name ending up in the cup and he had almost not come around. That meant that the slightest thing could break an already fragile friendship and coupled with the fact that he had not heard from him all summer was disconcerting. Ginny was another enigma. She seemed almost obsessed with him and he couldn't help but wonder if he had been being drugged as he seemed to grow more infatuated with the girl the more time he spent with the Weasleys. Of course he had not been oblivious that the obsession had decreased last year as the triwizard tournament had taken much of the school's time and … That was it! He would have to ask Professor Snape about that later.

His thoughts as he began to get ready for bed had quickly turned to the whole Weasley family as he already had two people he could not trust from there. Mrs. Weasley had done a great job of pretending but she hadn't allowed the fact that she treated him too much like her own child slip past him. At times he was greatly uncomfortable at how she consistently attempted to take the place of his late mother. Of course she had been too quick to tell him how to get onto the Hogwarts platform and this had caused him to question her sanity. It had not been lost to him that the wizards were supposed to take extreme diligence in telling people about the magic barrier. He could have been attempting to discover how people had walked through a wall in order to do something dangerous with the knowledge but of course he really was an innocent first year then. Mr. Weasley had been another enigma. The first time that he had met the man he had not seemed surprised that Harry would be there and in fact that led to the knowledge that he had been at the Weasleys for no more than half an hour when their Hogwarts letters had arrived and of course they had already been addressed. There was no way that the address could have been changed that fast in midair. Of course now he was going to have to ask Professor McGonagall how the letters got addressed. Of course his revelations had revealed that he could not trust either of the Weasley house heads and that led to the realization that he list was getting relatively short. Percy had immediately sided with the minister and that already made Harry uneasy and he had never met either of the other two Weasleys. He knew Professor Lupin was trustworthy and Sirius as there was no doubt in his mind that they would ever betray him.

Then there was the matter of Draco Malfoy. Despite acting like a bloody arse all of the time, he seemed to be hiding something and last year had tensed at the mere mention of his mother and had almost let the insult slip but then it appeared as if he had to force himself to react to the insult to his mother. Rubbing his head he reached over and began petting Hedwig. Cooing happily she looked at him with her knowing eyes and Harry nodded in agreement. There was definitely something about the Malfoy heir that didn't add up and he was going to figure it out. 'Something other than his rather nice assets….no don't go there.' Harry chastised himself. Lately he had found himself constantly forcing his mind away from the young Malfoy and he started wondering if he was in fact gay. Shaking his head he climbed into bed and turned out the light hoping to get some sleep before tomorrow.

***Amestris****

Edward was cursing his luck. The mission was supposed to be simple. Get into the illegal research lab confiscate the illegal alchemy notes and find the bad guys. Of course that was before he found that the lab was full of very volatile _toxic _material, _man-eating _chimera _and _the bad guys with a ready transmutation circle. Now he was adamantly attempting to stop the toxic chemicals from getting into an underground waterway, fend off waves of chimera and call for backup. So far he had managed none of it. Turning a corner he saw the perfect thing to make a detour for the waste and quickly made a barricade that caught a few of the chimera and detained the green liquid. Unfortunately that had also barricaded him in with the crazy alchemists that were responsible for the chimera in the first place. This really wasn't his day. Taking a big chance Edward slipped on a different glove, aimed at the ceiling and snapped. If this worked he may get the back up that he needed. Of course that didn't mean that he was going to be okay when the bastard learns that Edward had swiped a pair of his infamous gloves.

Roy wondered what he had done to deserve the treatment that he had to go through when it came to Edward. On his last mission he had not only succeeded in capturing the terrorists he had leveled a village, destroyed a military base and put himself in the hospital for a month. Then when he finally gets out of the hospital he demands another mission so that he is not bored. Just as Roy was thinking if the was going to have to court-martial his favorite alchemist his door banged open and his personal secretary, favorite sniper and Ed's brother strode in very quickly.

"Can I help all three of you?"

"Fuhrer sir," Hawkeye began, "We have reports from Fullmetal's location that indicate that he may need assistance." Rot could already feel a headache starting.

"I want to be the one to assist my brother if I may as it has been a long time since I worked with him." Al said in a strained voice. Al and Ed had managed to get in a disagreement on their last mission together and had almost wound up dead. Since then they had been forbidden to work together.

"Fuhrer sir, there is a message from Izumi Curtis demanding to have General Elric's most recent medical files. However, she is refusing to fill out the necessary paperwork insisting that she should not have to do it every time she wanted to update her records." His secretary was somewhat of a snob and if he could he would have had her fired for having a slight holier-than-thou attitude with him.

"What has Fullmetal done this time?"

"There was an explosion followed by a large column of fire reported precisely three minutes ago in his general area and the nearby troops on standby are requesting permission to move in and assist." Hawkeye supplied in a very professional tone. Rubbing his head he leaned back.

"Hawkeye, give them the ok, Al you would not make it to your brother in time, and Ms. Martel if I have to tell you again that Mrs. Curtis does not have to fill out the forms again I will have you demoted. When the reinforcements reach Fullmetal have them pass on a message for me to him would you Hawkeye?"

"What message sir?"

"I am going to kill him for stealing my gloves." As the three left his office Roy couldn't help but think about the past year. Edward and Alphonse had completed their quest to restore Al's body and instead of losing his alchemy Ed had lost his newly acquired arm again and had an IOU with the gate ready to be collected at a moment's notice. If he failed to do whatever the gate asked of him or refused then the gate would take Alphonse again. The IOU must have been for a pretty big matter as the gate had given as collateral Al back and Roy's eyesight in addition to Izumi's organs and Hohenheim his mortality back. Of course this meant that he could die at anytime but he no longer had the stone and could live out the rest of his life as he wanted with his children which he was forever grateful. However, it was about the same time that Roy had to stop denying his feelings for the enigmatic blond and start accepting as they could grow no longer. The gate itself had a sense of humor though. It had said that in order to ensure that the task was done when the time came it was going to send Envy back as a chaperone of sorts. Which had at first infuriated Roy but he had already gotten over it. What's done is done. Besides he was finally Fuhrer, having been given the position three months ago when Grumman had been assassinated during a poorly planned press conference.

Opening his eyes Edward groaned noticing that instead of being covered in rubble and debris he was in an all white space that seemed to scream 'blind me'. Sitting up he looked right at the truth and grinned.

"That didn't take long. Do you really need that favor now?"

"I am afraid so. There are other worlds that I am a guardian of sorts over and one world in particular that I have no sway over either than to watch as the people there continuously destroy themselves. However, if events continue as they are I'm afraid that your world and that world will be in danger. If that world falls so does your own as they are forever connected."

"What do you mean?"

"For every death there must be life, for every shadowed place and equally light place. For every world with equivalence, one without." The Gate paused letting it sink in.

"Wait you mean you want me to go to another world and save the lazy SOB's that are destroying their own world and they don't have to mind equivelancy?"

"I am afraid so as you are the only one that can. You are the only one that understands what too much power or the lack of appreciation for that power can do and in all of the worlds you and a few select others are the only ones capable of learning both alchemy and magic which is needed to save them from their own mistakes. In addition, there are a few over there that can understand the basics and concepts of alchemy and truly appreciate the knowledge and responsibility that it brings with it."

"Now you want me to teach these ungrateful bastards alchemy?" Edward's voice was beginning to rise in pitch and the gate itself could feel a headache beginning.

"That is correct. However, I did not say that you had to teach them all. You only have to teach some of them I will allow you to be selective in your students. As such I am also allowing you to bring a team with you. It cannot be a large team but a team none-the-less. These people will be permitted free passage with you and will be bound by the IOU that I have given including your terms."

"How long do I have to pick my team?"

"How long do you need?"

"About three days from when I wake up."

"Good. In three days time I will summon you back here. That is when you will give me the names of your teammate and I will send you where you need to be. Also, since you cannot bring your mechanic I will keep your automail in pristine condition while you are there."

"Deal. Now send me back bastard before they think that I died in that explosion." As his world went black Edward could have sworn he heard a faint whisper of "you did" but paid it no mind.

*****************************************Fin****************************************

AN: Well how do you like? Please let me know what you think. Also I am having a poll. What should Edward's familiar be and who should he take with him. I was thinking no more than three other people. If there are any questions feel free to review and ask them. I will try to answer them as soon as I can.


	2. Deals And Confrontations

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood or Harry Potter. They belong to their respective creators and I make absolutely NO money off of this work of pure fanfiction.

FlameXFullmetal: I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me! Well here is the second chapter.

***********************************Deals and Confrontations*************************************

"Ow, what hit me?"

"That would have been a half-ton of debris and you have a lot of explaining to do Fullmetal."

"Oh hi bastard, is this about your stolen gloves?"

"No it is not. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING SETTING OFF AN EXPLOSION LITERALLY ABOVE YOUR HEAD?" Roy could be heard throughout the hospital and Edward had to flinch at the sheer volume that came with it.

"Oops." Was his intelligent reply. Gawking at him, Roy watched as the boy removed the wires and cords attached to him and proceeded to get dressed.

"Where are you going?"

"I have a lot to do and literally no time to do it. By the way how would you like to save the world with me again?" Edward looked right into his superior's eyes and couldn't help but laugh at the look of disbelief that flashed through them.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Do you remember when I transmuted Al back and I said that I owed the Gate a favor?"

"Yes.." Roy didn't like the direction that the conversation was taking.

"Well in three days time the gate will be coming to collect me and up to three people of my choosing in order to cash in that favor. Basically I have to go to another world in order to save it." Edward replied. Then he looked at Roy in the eyes with a dead serious expression. "Have you seen my boots?"

"Your boots? You are more concerned with where your boots are then the fact that YOU WERE DEAD AT THE SCENE WHEN THE BACK-UP TEAM ARRIVED?" Edward shrugged.

"Yeah I guess so." He grinned then jumped for joy as Roy pointed towards his boots and headed for them. Slipping those on he turned once again to the shocked Fuhrer.

"So will you help me or not?"

"I don't have a choice Fullmetal, if I don't you'll get yourself killed AGAIN." He stressed the last part in a half yell then held his head. "How do you get yourself in these messes Fullmetal?"

"I'm lucky. Now come on I think that I'll ask teacher, Hawkeye and Al and see who else wants to come." Edward reached the door and went to open it when the doctor walked in and gawked at the energetic blond.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

"Getting ready to save the world. I'm fine so can I go?" the doctor's expression mirrored Roy's and he could only stand there as Edward walked past him and down the hall. By the time the doctor had snapped out of his stupor Edward was out of the hospital and Edward's chart had a not from the Fuhrer authorizing his release. Sighing in frustration he turned and went to check on the other patients in the ICU.

"Roy hurry, I have to call teacher and hope that Al is not trying to adopt the local cat shelter, oh and find Hawkeye at the firing range….." Edward trailed off making a list of things to do while internally Roy was grimacing at the amount of paperwork that this escapade was going to cause. Grabbing the hyper boy's wrists, Roy pulled him to a dead stop.

"You call talk to Izumi and Al. I will go talk to Hawkeye that will make things faster right?"

"Good point. Ok." Darting off to the nearest pay phone Edward didn't notice the look that passed Roy's face.

"Dear god he listened to me and accepted my suggestion. The world is ending." Roy had no idea how true that statement held.

**********Surrey********

Harry was not having a good day. He had woke up late, burned the Dursley's breakfast and somehow gotten himself locked out of the house for the whole day. Shrugging to himself he headed towards the library in hopes that the librarian would pick up where she left off with her tutoring. Since he had started Hogwarts his relatives had stopped his muggle education and he had decided that since he was already behind due to absences and his wizarding education he should catch up. That was why he went to the library every chance that he got in the summertime. The librarian had insisted on helping Harry when he had asked her for help on a math problem for his potion's homework two years ago. Every so often she would test him and make sure that he was improving and if he tested at a certain level then she would enter him for the exams at the local school's designed for summer school participants. So far he was only one grade behind in his math and history and a grade ahead everywhere else. Entering the library he caught sight of the girl and gave a big smile. Sitting at his usual table he waited for her to come over.

The librarian was having a hard time trying to explain to a child why they could not check out anymore books when he entered. Harry was a mystery to the woman as he seemed to have a difficult home life coupled with an even more complicated school life. He had insisted when he had first asked her for help that he was where he should be for his school level but when she had tested him, he was far behind. That was when he confessed that the private boarding school he had been going to had a different curriculum and taught different subjects. When asked where he went before the boarding school he had replied that he had been enrolled in the local public school and that since he lived with his aunt and uncle he had to be careful with how well he did. It took her a week to get the reason why out of him and she had a bad feeling that she had just barely scratched the surface. To be honest, who punished a child for doing well in school? His response had been that because of differences between his aunt and his mother there was a bit of 'bad blood' and his relatives despised it when he did better than his cousin in school. So he had to do progressively worse than his cousin which he said was hard because his cousin was only passing two classes. This had led her to offer private tutoring to keep him caught up and he had admitted that he couldn't come every day and that he only spent three months at home before heading back to school. Things had become chaotic from there when he stopped coming suddenly, and then the next year he had admitted that because of his aunt-through-marriage coming over he might not be able to go to the study sessions. Finally, last year he had come in excitedly and said that a friend's family was taking him to a World Championship match in his favorite sport and he would be staying with their family until school started afterwards. He had stopped coming the following day. So when he walked in she felt relieved. Gathering his materials from underneath the counter, she motioned for her assistant to take over, and headed over to him. As he looked up to greet her, she could tell that something was wrong.

"Hey Harry, how are you today?"

"Good." Was the short reply. Usually he would be bubbly and describe some kind of elaborate yet vague description of how his school year went before asking what they were going to start on.

"You sure? You sound less than enthusiastic to be here." She asked with concern in her voice.

"Well….something happened at school and I don't know how to deal with it." He answered truthfully.

"Well tell me what happened and I'll try to help."

"The school cancelled its normal sports last year and held a tournament instead. Only those in their final year could participate as there was a certain degree of danger involved and at school those eligible were considered adults." He glanced over at her to discern that she was following him. "They had banned the tournament years before over parent's concerns about the danger and thought that it would be ok to try again. The tournament itself was held between three rival schools and each school got one champion. Somehow however, my name was entered into the tournament drawing and due to the rules of the tournament anyone who has their name drawn through an automated process was required to participate. I was in my fourth year and after Cedric's name was pulled we thought that it was over because he was the last to be chosen. Then suddenly my name popped up and I was told that I had no choice but to participate. So now my 'friend' Ron is pissed at me because I wouldn't tell him how my name got in the drawing and things got really tense between me and my younger classmates even though I _didn't _know that my name had been entered."

"That seems petty of them don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"So what was the tournament like?"

"We had to complete a series of three tasks, which had tasks attached to them in order to win. The first was to obtain an egg from its really _mean _guardian. Then we had to decipher the message in the egg before the next task. That could only be done underwater…." He glanced at her face and suppressed the urge to laugh. Her look was priceless. "Then we had to retrieve something _valuable _to us that was being held underwater at the bottom of a lake. I barely made it out of that one, I couldn't _hold _my breath any longer." Chuckling slightly he realized just how dumb he had looked when the gillyweed had worn off. "Finally we had to complete a maze that had traps set up for us. If we got stuck in a trap or could no longer complete the maze we were supposed to use the…. I guess you could call it a flare …. That we were given to signal our need to quit. The other two dropped out due to _circumstances _and me and Cedric reached the trophy at the end of the maze together. We decided that since we arrived at the same time we would share the victory." Here he stopped to ponder how he would tell Liz what had happened without mentioning magic or that someone wanted him to dead. "However, just as we touched the trophy a _lunatic _came out of nowhere and managed to kill Cedric before the teachers arrived and he got away. He tried to kill me to but….." he trailed off trying to stop the unbidden tears from falling.

"Oh Harry…it will be ok. They will catch him and eventually the pain will lessen. Granted you won't forget but it won't hurt as much." Liz soothed.

"But that's the thing, I found out later" small lie on his part "That this was the same guy who killed my parents and that was listed as dead. When the authorities were told they didn't believe me and are telling the public and Cedric's parents that his death was an unfortunate accident from the tournament." Harry bit out angrily. He still couldn't believe that the ministry was covering up Cedric's death. He was just glad that he had decided to subscribe to the daily prophet before leaving in third year.

"Why that is the most irresponsible thing that I have ever heard!" Liz was very good at yelling quietly and at the moment Harry was certain that she was going to break into parsletongue. "I should give them a piece of my mind! Writing off a murder like that! What are they thinking? Were they thinking?"

"They were thinking about their public image and reputation. If they admitted that they made a mistake and that the guy wasn't dead then they would have to admit that a mass murderer is still on the loose. They don't want to do that since they had spent years telling the public that he was dead and not prowling for more victims." Harry snorted. He had gotten, in his opinion, to good at lying to people. Shaking his head he smiled warmly at Liz.

"So what are we doing today?" Sometimes routine was the best thing for forgetting one's own worries.

********************Fin***********************

FlameXFullmetal: Well what do you think? I will post the next chapter soon when I see where the polling results stand. So far the team that Ed is taking has the following votes:

Ed, Roy, Envy, Al and Hawkeye – 1

If you want a different team let me know or I will go with this one. Thx.


	3. Of Alchemists and Wizards

Finding Life's Second Truth

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I own neither Fullmetal Alchemist (or Brotherhood) or Harry Potter. This is a work of pure fiction and I make no money nor make any claims of owning either of these. Thank you.

Author's note: I apologize for not updating sooner. I have had quite a hectic few months and have finally found time to do some mass updating. Since I have not received any votes for different people I will go with the original trio. I thank all those that have been reading and will now get on with the story.

************************Of Alchemists and Wizards******************************

"You are certain that it is coming today to get us?" Al questioned. He felt a little queasy about seeing that gate again and was not to keen that he would be traveling through it.

"For the last time Al, I am positive that it is coming. Don't be nervous it has promised a free round trip. We just have to deal with Envy again is all." Edward shrugged. He knew why Al was nervous and also knew that he was also excited at seeing a different world. Glancing around he hoped that the entourage he had brought with him would be enough. Hawkeye and Izumi had been more than happy to help and Roy had already insisted that he go as well. Shaking his head he laughed as everything went white.

"Hawkeye, meet the truth." He said matter of factly. Hawkeye gapped for a few minutes before blinking.

"Roy made it sound as if this was a giant six headed beast. It doesn't look that bad." Hawkeye laughed.

"That is because you are not doing transmutations and literally traveling through the truth to get here. Looks can be very deceiving."

"Is they who you are bringing? Think carefully because they are no second chances." At first the group had put off Edward's story as a delusion but now that they were here they were convinced.

"Yes. Their help was vital to saving Amestris so I felt that they would be best suited for this job." Edward replied with full confidence.

"So um… exactly what are we doing and where are we going? Brother didn't explain much." Alphonse timidly asked.

"You are going to the dimension that runs parallel to this one where magic exists, alchemy is a dead art and the world is in danger of being destroyed." The truth stated. Everyone turned to look at Edward almost accusingly.

"What? Would you have believed me if I had told you that?" Laughing Roy shook his head and glanced back at the Truth.

"I can understand wanting to save that world but why ask Edward? He has nothing to do with that world."

"That is not entirely true. Hohenheim was kind enough to try and assist that world once in his quest. Sadly though his teachings fell on deaf ears and that have been forgotten by those that have learned it. Well all except one that is. Voldemort, Tom Riddle's new name, once took lessons from your father before he went bad and he is attempting to use alchemy to restore his form and power. He has already managed to mix alchemy with magic to revive but he is far more dangerous than that. In addition, if that world is destroyed than this one will be as well. I would correct it, but I no longer hold any influence over that world with alchemy having been forgotten. You see these worlds are never meant to touch one another but they support each other. Does that make sense?" Shaking her head Hawkeye voiced what the others were thinking.

"Not exactly." Edward turned and took over.

"In order to have shadow one must have light to right?" he questioned and everyone nodded their head in confirmation.

"Therefore, this world is the opposite of ours which maintains the balance like shadow and light. In exchange for our laws of equivalency they have none. In addition, if that balance is lost then both light and shadow will vanish with it. Understand now?" Nodding they realized the urgency of what was being asked of them. If they allowed this Voldemort to win not only would this world of magic perish but so would their world. Turning the Truth looked towards a gate that appeared to be crumbling and motioned for it to open.

"I can't guarantee a safe landing but I can guarantee that you will not be with the enemy. Oh right the last member of the team." It said as Envy appeared before them. "Envy listen well. You must work with Edward and his friends in order to save this new world in order to keep this chance at life. I have granted you a different form of the stone that will guarantee your survival. DO NOT disappoint me." Grumbling Envy gave a mock bow and nodded in confirmation. He then turned towards the group and gave a toothy grin.

"Shall we? The bad guy awaits." Agreeing they jumped through the gate.

*********************With Harry**************************

Harry's day had pretty much mirrored the last few days. He had continuously messed up and gotten locked out of the house and he knew that it was because he was still distracted by Cedric's death and the lack of admittance from the ministry that Voldemort had returned. Any other time they would have believed him but of course the one time that mattered they called him a liar. How was he supposed to save them if they won't listen to him? Shaking his head he looked up at Liz as they finished their lesson and packed up. It was then that Harry realized that they had worked right till closing. As they left the library together he looked over at Liz and laughed to see that she was heading in the same direction as him.

"Going the same way?"

"Of course. I have to stop by the store down the street and I live in this direction." She laughed. Harry's eyes nearly came out of his head as he processed the information.

"I never knew." He admitted. As they walked in silence Harry couldn't help but admit that it felt nice walking with someone that didn't think he was a freak or that was pissed at him for something that wasn't his fault. It was a few blocks from her house that he felt the change in temperature. Looking around wildly he gulped and paled as he saw the dementor coming towards them. If he told Liz to get in her house then she would be heading right for it. So he did the only thing that he could and grabbed her hand.

"Run!" he yelled as they sped through the yards of her neighbors and in the opposite direction. Liz was trying to keep up with him and realized that despite being malnourished and abused he was very fast.

"Harry, what is going on?" she called to him.

"Trust me!" he yelled back. Glancing over his shoulder he noticed that it was quickly catching up and that it had brought friends. Glancing to the end of the tunnel he cursed under his breath as he noticed not only the dementors blocking them off but Dudley coming towards them.

"Oh, is this your girlfriend?" He taunted.

"Not now Dudley." Harry growled as he reluctantely pulled his cousing behind him with Liz. Backing to the wall he drew his wand he faced the dementors with his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.

"There is no reason for you to be here! Leave!" he yelled hoping that it would work. When it didn't he cursed yet again.

"Harry?" Liz sounded like she was panicking and he could tell that they were being affected by the dementor's presence. "What are those things?" she asked startling both Dudley and Harry. As much as he was loath to admit it Dudley could see them as well.

"Wish I could tell you Liz but let's just say that they want to eat us." That made both Dudley and Liz scream in terror. As they drew closer Harry shook his head knowing what he needed to do. "Well let's hope that I don't get in too much trouble for this. EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he yelled as his patronus materialized in front of him. As the patronus headed forward and the dementors fled he looked back sheepishly at the two behind him. Dudley's eyes were nearly out of his head and luckily Liz had fainted when, he wasn't to sure.

"Dudley, can you help me get Liz home? If I use anymore magic I will be in a lot of hot water." Dudley nodded numbly realizing that Harry had just saved him with his magic despite everything that he had done to him. Helping Harry lift the girl from the ground they were at her doorstep when she came to. Looking around wildly she pulled away and ran in her house locking the door. Harry felt his heart drop in his stomach as he turned and headed back to the Dursleys in silence. He had a feeling that might happen if she ever found out about magic. As they came through the door, Petunia took one look at Dudley and pushed Harry out of the way to get to him.

"What happened to you?" she screeched.

"Harry he….he….." Dudley was stammering. Petunia and Vernon rounded on the shocked boy and glared.

"What did you do to him?" Vernon roared. Harry shook his head and glanced at Dudley for help. Surely he wasn't going to lie to them would he?

"No mum, he saved me!" That drew both of their attention as Dudley began explaining about the dementors and how Harry had used the patronus to save him. The look on Vernon and Petunia's faces was priceless and then ruined as Reamus and some other wizards came in quickly.

"Sorry to intrude but we need Harry to come with us now." He said and then turned to look at his pup who was still sitting on the floor. "Well get your belongings." He commanded. Harry jumped up and grabbed what he could before looking somewhat ashamed and turning to Vernon.

"Ummm…Uncle Vernon I need to get my things from the cupboard could I have the keys?" he near mumbled. This put Reamus in a foul mood as he unlocked the door using the Alohomora spell and grabbed Harry's school supplies. He then herded him out the door before giving the Dursleys a nasty look. The trip was fast enough and it wasn't until they were inside 12 Grimmauld place that Harry broke the silence.

"Moony what just happened?" that drew the attention of the room's occupants as they looked at the boy. "I know that I broke the laws when I used my patronus charm but this seems a bit much." That made the adults burst into laughter as Sirius placed a hand on the boy's shoulders.

"That's not it…well it is but how about some dinner?" the change of subject only served to confuse him more. As the adults began bustling around once more he turned to his friends and glared.

"I haven't heard from you all summer. You promised that you would write."

"Well you see….." Ron started.

"Dumbledore said it wasn't safe to write. So we didn't." Hermione clarified as if that made everything better. Rolling his eyes he headed up the stairs to his room and placed everything on the floor near the bed. Hermione and Ron looked at each other before following him up the stairs.

"Harry it's not like that. We were thinking of your safety." Hermione tried unsuccessfully before Harry cut her off.

"If Dumbledore said that jumping off of a cliff would make me safe then would you?"

"Of course not." Hermione scowled. That wasn't a very good comparison. Turning they followed him down the stairs and were just reaching the bottom when a loud crash caught their attention heading into the kitchen they stared to see a tangle of limbs as a group of people attempted somewhat unsuccessfully to get up. The adults not even noticing that the children were in the room drew their wands and surrounded the area.

"How did you get in here?" Sirius demanded. The wards around the house should have been impenetrable. As they five stood they looked unimpressed by the wands and then at Sirius.

"We dropped in via the gate of truth. It can pretty much do anything." The stranger with the long blonde hair looked down then laughed. "Leave it to the truth to give us the knowledge of a new language. That makes thing easy." He had a thick German accent and was dusting himself off. Sirius growled and raised his wand further.

"That makes no sense. Now how did you get in here?"

"That's enough Sirius." Dumbledore said as he glided into the room. "The gate of truth probably could breech our defenses. As all powerful as it is. That would make you alchemist from Amestris would it not?" This drew the attention of the group as they tried to figure out what he meant.

"How would you know that you old fool."

"Edward, we are not here to antagonize people."

"Well sorry Fuhrer bastard but I just got dropped on my head and you expect me to be nice to the people holding what I can only surmise are the wands of fairy tales at us?" he growled. The conversation was actually kind of funny. That was when Dumbledore noticed the tattoo on Envy and drew his own wand.

"Homunculus." He hissed and Edward turned towards Dumbledore with a bored look.

"Drop the wand or else." That took everyone back as they realized that his voice held a lot of promise. "He is an ally. Attempt to attack him and you deal with me. I don't want it to come to that especially if you are the order of the flaming chickens but I will not hesitate if you attack someone in my party."

"Flaming Chickens?" Arthur squawked indignantly.

"Yup. Now lower your wands or else." When Dumbledore refused Edward lunged forward faster than they could aim and had his automail transmuted and at Dumbledore's throat. "Now or he dies." That made the wands lower. Nodding he backed off and then transmuted the table back to its original condition. "We are here to fight against Voldemort in order to prevent the destruction of the world. According to the gate we need to team up with the Order of the Flaming Chickens and Harry Potter in order to do this. Will you help us or not?" he clarified.

"Brother it is the Order of the Phoenix not Flaming Chickens." Al said in exasperation.

"Yeah Flaming Chickens. That is exactly what they look like and that is what I am going to call them." He said with finality as he sat down.

"Why do you protect the beast? Surely if you are alchemists you know?" Dumbledore implored.

"Know what?" Edward asked feigning innocence.

"That they are very dark creatures that feed on souls and can't be killed!" Arthur growled. While it wasn't covered in depth it was in the DADA textbooks.

"Actually that is a lie." Edward said clearing his throat as the others took a seat. "They are beings that are created through the use of alchemy with a philosopher's stone as their core. They are almost immortal as they can die and they do not feed on souls. They are annoying pests when they are your enemy and powerful allies as a friend. Any other misconceptions I can clear up? I have fought eight after all." That grabbed everyone's attention as they gaped at the boy who was looking innocently at them. It was then that Harry stepped forward.

"Why do you need to team up with me and exactly what is it you hope to accomplish against Voldemort if you do not even wield magic?"

"So you are Harry Potter. Nice to meet you. I am Edward Elric and these people are friends of mine. This is my brother Alphonse Elric, my Superior and Fuhrer of Amestris Roy Mustang, his best friend Riza Hawkeye and this is our ex-enemy now friend Envy. Nice to meet your acquaintance. We will be working together from now on so I hope that we can try to get along." Harry could only blink at the enigma before him. He had no problem threatening people to get his way and obviously had no problem carrying through with his threat. He had plenty of courage and he seemed as if he could attract people to him without trying. He knew more than he was letting in and played dumb at times to get information. All the while he was carefully calculating possibilities.

"Alright then dinner will take some time all of you out. This is not for your ears only the orders come now." Molly tried to quickly herd the group away but was stopped by Roy snorting in protest.

"What? Do you have a problem with the way that we do things?" Arthur challenged.

"As a matter of fact I think that we all do." Envy answered for the group making the wizards look at him oddly. "You see withholding crucial information from the one that you are placing all your hopes in is a good way to get them killed. In addition, I think that horsey here can back me up when I say that people like Harry always get in more trouble when they have no idea what is happening around him and thus no reason to avoid reckless decisions. Thus instead of protecting him you are only placing him in harm's way. Am I right Harry? Are there times that you regret your actions and would have done things differently had you know everything that was going on and the measures that were put into place because of current events?"

"Of course I would have!" Harry exclaimed startling the group before them. Despite his own personal beliefs Severus could actually see the wisdom in the Homunculus' words. Turning he looked at the rest of the order.

"I am afraid that I have to agree with the Hom….Envy on this matter." He stated actually using the dark creature's name. This resulted in loud protests and reasons why he should be and should not be allowed. The volume kept rising and after a few seconds Roy snapped above their heads to give them a warning and grab their attention.

"How about everyone voice their opinions one at a time so that we can come up with a compromise. I learned quickly that hiding information from Fullmetal only made things worse when he found out about them and made him act in a far more reckless manner. NO COMPLAINTS." He emphasized making the whole order sit down and quiet up quickly. The first to speak was Molly.

"He is just a boy! He doesn't need to be involved yet. Besides there is nothing that he can do at this point." Quite a few of the adults agreed with this and Edward snorted.

"Harry how old are you?"

"I just turned 15 why?"

"At fifteen I was already in the military, lost my mother, knew nothing of my father's whereabouts, had seen death and violence, made the biggest mistake of my life, nearly got my brother killed multiple times, thought I knew everything, thought that I could solve everything with alchemy _and _saved Amestris by participating in a civil uprising. What has Harry accomplished by now in this war he is expected to fight in?" The room was silent and Harry felt his temper growing towards the adults as he hissed out his reply.

"I have nearly been killed three times by Voldemort, escaping each time by coincidence, nearly killed by dementors, told nothing and done nothing of importance. Why do you ask?" he said in a sickly sweet voice that made the adults cringe. Molly flinched from the harshness of his tone. She could not even argue any of his points either.

"Why shouldn't he be involved should be the question." Edward snapped. "Next complaint?"

"He is not you! How can you expect him to live up to your standards?" Arthur snapped.

"You're right he is not me! For that I am glad. However, as you obviously expect him to be the one to finish Moldyshorts, he should at least know something of the resistance against him! He has the right to know everything! You have no right keeping anything from him while placing an unimaginably big burden on his shoulders! You want him to live the life of a child? Then stop protecting him, stop letting him onto to things about what is happening, stop giving him information after the fact and do not expect him to be on the front lines during the war!" Edward yelled. Some of the adults bowed their head in shame as they realized the truth in his words. "Now he stays or I will only ally myself with him the order be damned. " Edward snapped. Dumbledore began weighing his options as did everyone else. He had already demonstrated that he was powerful and fast enough to dodge a spell. If the others were anything like him then they would have formidable allies if they agreed. However, if they refused they would lose a very powerful ally and may have to fight him when the time comes.

"Very well. Harry may stay the rest may not." Sirius conceded. The rest of the children began to protest and Sirius quickly spoke up as the adults joined in.

"My house my rules. Harry is directly involved and as Edward has said he is needed in the war. However, the rest of the children are not. It will be up to Harry to tell them important information. Besides, Harry may be able to gather trustworthy students to fight against Voldemort at the school. The battle will come whether we like it or not and the battle field will more than likely be at the school. This means that the students there should be given the option of whether or not they fight as well. Any problems?" After careful consideration the rest of the adults agreed and the rest of the children were shooed out of the room while Harry took a seat. Leaning over he whispered a quick thank you to both Sirius and Edward.

"Now that we can finally begin. What have you learned, anything new Severus?"

"Voldemort is applauding the ministry as an ally for their refusal to acknowledge his return. He says it will make things easier and more enjoyable when they begin moving." He said leaning back in his chair. "He is also attempting to get as many people as possible into the ministry for a complete takeover." Sighing Dumbledore began to contemplate his options.

"Why don't we start by telling Harry everyone's roles in the order so he doesn't get confused because I know that I have no idea what you are talking about." Edward sighed in exasperation. That made everyone's head snap up.

"Harry, Snape is a spy working for Dumbledore. He has infiltrated the Death Eaters and has Voldemort under the impression that he is spying on us. As result he is somewhat of a double agent." Sirius clarified. Harry nodded in understanding. After almost half an hour Mustang rolled his eyes.

"Does anyone even know where the enemy is or how many are in their ranks? What kind of arsenal do they have and do they have a pattern to their movement? When is Riddle at his weakest? Weaknesses in the enemy guard?" he rattled off a list of common things that one normally checked for in war and shook his head as he got blank stares. "So no one knows anything about the kind of resistance they are facing and you intend to head into battle with what little force you have here?" he said incredulously.

"You have a spy and do not even know that?" Envy echoed. Then he burst into laughter. "Even father knew what kind of force he would be facing if someone turned on him. This is pathetic. You call this a debriefing on enemy movements? This is child's play."

"What would you know about?" Moody griped.

"I am over a hundred years old and have seen many wars, hell I started a few of them and commanded a few. What would I know about it eye-patch?" Envy sneered. Everyone at the table gapped. He had just admitted to starting wars with pride. "Horsey I think another hostile takeover is in order this place will never win and at this rate I go back to the gate and lose my second chance at life."

"I just thought of something." Moody glowered. "Why are you here?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore echoed "Why would people from Amestris be here in another dimension seeking to assist?"

"Why?" Edward chorused. It was then that his eyes filled with rage and he stood glaring at the old man. "We are here because you _wizards" _he spat the word like venom "messed everything up. Your world is on the verge of collapse and because you can't fix it and nor can the gate our world is in danger of being destroyed as well! You tell me why the fuck we are here." Edward was fuming.

"Language young man!" Molly chastised.

"YOUNG MAN?" Edward whirled around on Molly. "I am almost eighteen fucking years old! I was an adult at twelve according to the laws of Amerstris and you are not my mother! Do not presume you can tell me what to do woman." He spat the hateful words at Molly and then rounded on Dumbledore. "According to the gate of Truth my father spent quite a bit of time here in the wizarding world, Van Hohenheim also known as Hohenheim of light. Know him?" Every wizard in the room's eyes widened except for Harry's.

"Hohenheim was your father?" Sirius squeaked.

"Yeah he is. Why?"

"He taught Alchemy at Hogwarts for a little over a hundred years before he declared it a hopeless cause and left without a trace one day." McGonagall clarified for the group.

"Well then that makes this easier than I thought. Obviously some of you know of the Gate of Truth?"

"According to the professor it was something that you never wanted to see. He also said that it was something that had powers beyond comprehension and that nothing could contain more power." Severus mused. "What? I was one of the few that took the last class he taught." He blushed slightly.

"The Alchemic Gate of Truth is the being that ensures equivalency. It can only interact with worlds that abide by equivalency and as such has no way to save you. It is the guardian to the passages to other worlds and a humorous kind of thing. Its way of ensuring equivalency is quite effective. Anyway, it said that I was going to have to learn _magic _while I teach your hopeless cases alchemy. There are few that can learn so I have full selectivity. I can at least ensure that those that learn are loyal to our cause. Severus, I need you to try to find out the enemy's number and what they intend to fight with. Without endangering yourself. In addition, stay alert to times when he leaves or when he is the least guarded. Try to find anything that can be used against him and tell us before we lose our chance. If he is going on a raid let us know so we can set up an ambush. Ok?" Edward and Roy commanded at once. Nodding at how logical the orders sounded he vowed to find as much as he could. Alphonse spun on his brother and gaped.

"You never told us that you would be learning their blasphemy!"

"Sorry Al. The gate said that I was one of the few who could learn both alchemy and magic."  
>"What about teaching these ingrates alchemy?" Envy questioned.<p>

"I have to IOU remember. The gate laid the rules I am following them."

"How did you get an IOU with a supreme being?"

"Well Sirius, I did human transmutation at 11 tried to resurrect my mom. Failed spectacularly. Lost Al, bound Al to a suit of armor through a second human transmutation. Began a journey to fix Al, joined the military, did human transmutation a few more times, finally found a way to fix Al, did human transmutation _again, _fixed Al and instead of giving something more than my right arm for equivalency I received an IOU note with the gate. Which by the way was cashed in a week ago. Any questions?" Looking around Edward found everyone's mouths wide opened.

"What?"

"Do you never learn?" Arthur and Molly yelled.

"Sure I do. I learned not to resurrect the dead, not to get stuck in dimensions I can't get out of, never get a steel beam through my side and never let Al help in crazy transmutations. Oh I also learned to listen to Al when he says that he has a bad feeling." Molly slapped her head as she realized that he didn't get what they meant. "That reminds me. I need to get into Hogwarts as both a teacher and a student get caught up as a fifth year and Al will need to join of course. Envy could as well. I am sure that he is capable as a wizard. Roy can be my assistant and Hawkeye could be …."

"She could help with muggle studies." Harry suggested. Nodding but not understanding what that was Edward agreed.

"Well, what'll it be?"

"Do we have a choice?" Dumbledore nearly groaned. This was not how it was supposed to happen.

"Nope. So when do we go shopping?"

"We'll go tomorrow." Sirius suggested.

"Sirius…" Moody warned.

"What? I wanna go outside!" he whined.

"You can come if you disguise yourself." Edward stated clearly.

"YAY!" Sirius cried happily bouncing in his seat. As the meeting began to wind up Edward leaned over to Envy.

"A favor?" he whispered in Amestrian.

"What?"

"Keep an eye on Dumbles and the Weasley family. They feel like the Fuhrer to me."

"Deal."

************************************TBC**************************************************

AN: Well there you have it. Hope you like the chapter and let me know if there are corrections to be had. Again I am sorry for taking so long. Ja!


	4. Shopping and Discussions

Finding Life's Second Truth

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. I make no money from this and hope that I will not be sued for writing a piece of fiction with two books/shows that I like best. Thank you!

Grimmich: I would have put Major Armstrong in the story as an option, but personally he scares me. Lol. I assure you that you will like the ending to both series though.

Author's Note: I apologize for taking a long time for updating but with worsening health problems and writer's block it was hectic. I also apologize for any grammar mistakes in the last chapter I will eventually go through and fix those.

*****************Shopping and Discussions************************

The next morning was hectic. Mrs. Black's portrait woke Edward up and as a result it was not only transmuted off of the wall but into particles. That made Sirius happy and Kreecher unhappy. The angry house-elf had actually attacked Edward only to be knocked to the ground and then released by Sirius, but only after the elf surrendered all of the hoarded belongings he had kept. That had led to the discovery of the horcrux and the subsequent destruction of said item. From there the situation began going downhill fast.

"Absolutely not!" Edward yelled. The Order of the Phoenix and Edward had been arguing over security detail for an hour. "Good lord are you trying to paint a bull's eye on Harry and scream to the world that the-boy-who-lived is right here? Have you no common sense?" The order flinched knowing that they were fighting yet another losing battle with the blonde.

"He needs protected!" Moody, Arthur and Molly insisted.

"He is! How much safer can you get with three Alchemists, a Homunculus, and a woman that could kill you from a distance before you knew that she was there? He will also the wizarding children there, Sirius, Reamus _and _Severus. If that is not enough protection then that means you cannot even trust the people that you are working with! I will not let half of the flaming chickens follow us around, paint a target on his head and make us look paranoid."

"You forgot that Arthur and Molly are going." Sirius whispered trying to hide his laugh.

"I'm sorry but I have yet to see them do anything but harp, complain and try to control. So unless they can show me that they have actual combat skills they don't count. That's final. End of discussion." Turning Edward looked at Envy. "We need to find a way to hide the Ouroboros tattoo. Can you shift into a 15 year old?"

"Can I turn into a man eating dragon and devour you?" Eny countered with a laugh. Focus the alchemy surrounded him and before the wizards knew it they were looking at a fifteen year old female somewhat identical to Edward. "Does this work?"

"Perfect." Edward coughed before turning away. "Let's go people. We have little time and a lot to do."

"Chibi?" Envy purred. The order blinked as Edward tensed and the rest of the visitors groaned.

"Do you have any idea how many times you have called me that since we met?"

"Um…..Somewhere close to twenty maybe?"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Ok Chibi."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT NOT EVEN A SPECK OF DUST COULD FIND HIM?" Suddenly the room knew exactly why they behaved like that.

"Um…..you." Envy giggled. She was enjoying this. Slumping in defeat Edward waved his hand.

"What did you want?"

"While I am in this form please call me Eve, ok?"

"Ok." Suddenly Hermione squeaked in excitement running upstairs to retrieve a book that she had been reading.

"Height Dysphoria! A psychological disorder that causes one to be unhappy with their own height, people suffering from this disorder usually see themselves differently than the world sees them. It is one of many areas that are of concern with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD. Only 1-2% of the world's population qualifies for a BDD diagnosis. Of those that suffer from BDD only have a 7% ratio of being unhappy with their height. This disorder commonly co-exists with other psychiatric disorders and a majority of the time more than one feature of the body is a problem in the individual's mind." She finished. Looking up she noticed everyone staring at her. However, the most intriguing looks were coming from the group from Amestris.

"Is that what's up with Fullmetal?" Roy whispered after a few minutes of trying to find his voice.

"Well the symptoms do match up. You can read the book later if you like, Edward. It may help you better understand how to deal with the disorder."

"I'll do that." He whispered. He had finally found a possible answer to his reactions. After a second he shook his head and turned. "We should be going."

"By the time that everyone had made it through the floo network to the leaky cauldron the Amestrians were none too happy and Sirius was barking excitedly. Dusting himself off, Edward glanced around and shook his head at the people that were using magic for tasks they should be able to do themselves, like stirring their tea. Heading quickly through the tunnel to Diagon Alley, Edward knew that he was going to have a headache after this.

"First stop is the bank and from there we should probably get your wands first. That will take the longest."

"Hey should Roy get one just in case he is magically inclined?" Edward questioned.

"He can try. Ollivander will be able to tell if he is capable of doing magic." Reamus replied. It was a quick trip to Gringotts and by the time that they arrived Edward's eye was twitching in annoyance.

"Why is everyone staring at me, Al and Eve?"

"They think that you are werewolves." Reamus answered quietly. Holding his head he entered the building then turned to Reamus.

"Do the Weasleys have a vault here?"

"No why?"

"Then why are they following Harry?"

"No idea." Catching up to the redheads Edward caught their arms.

"I am fairly certain that Harry can withdraw money without an escort. By now he should know how it is done. No arguments. Please wait by the door." He ordered before catching up to the confused boy.

"Shall we? I have no idea what we are doing here." Edward gave a laugh and smiled as Harry relaxed. When they got to the front of the lobby Harry cleared his throat.

"I would like to make a withdraw.." After a few seconds of thinking he looked back up "…and speak to the goblin in charge of the Potter estates if possible." Nodding the goblin left and came back a few moments later leading Harry away. Tilting his head Edward nodded to himself.

"My name is Edward Elric and this is my younger brother, we are here to claim the vault left behind by our father Van Hohenheim." That got the goblin's attention and they two brother's were whisked away quickly. Approximately half an hour later the odd group left the bank with a myriad of expressions. Edward looked like he was ready to cry at anytime and Al looked like he had been crying. Harry was fuming and Sirius was growling quietly.

"Are you ok, Edward? Alphonse?" Hawkeye questioned.

"Fine." Edward answered quickly and walked a little further ahead.

"I'm ok Hawkeye. They have wills here that allow you to see the person that left it behind and well…we got to see dad and it was almost like he knew what we needed to hear. It was nice to see him again." Al sniffled with a smile. "Brother is being himself and refusing to cry, like normal." That made everyone smile softly.

"So where is this wand shop? I really don't like being here more than I have to." Edward called back making the group laugh as they steered them to the shop. Molly and Arthur were having a different experience though as they realized that Edward could be causing some of the plans to go awry. They were not laughing. Stepping into the dusty shop they jumped as Ollivander came around the corner and just froze at seeing the Elric boys.

"I was hoping you would never need to be here. Hohenheim warned me that if you came it would be a bad omen. I take it that the situation really has gotten that bad. Wait just a moment." He said before heading out of view.

"Well dad, you have a lot of explaining to do and I doubt that I can ask your will." Edward cursed. As Ollivander returned they noticed that he was carrying three sealed cases and a very old dusty box.

"Roy correct?"

"Yes?"

"Am I correct in assuming that you have an affinity for fire?"

"That is correct."

"Here try this one. I suggest that everyone take a few steps back if his affinity is as strong as I think." Nodding in agreement everyone stepped back just as Roy waved the wand and burst into bright blue flames. Edward's eyes nearly came out of his head as the flames died down and Roy was found to be unharmed.

"Never before in all of my time selling wands have I ever seen a reaction so powerful before. Of all the pyromancer's in the world none have ever produced blue flames of that magnitude."

"What is the big deal about blue flames?" Ron snorted is annoyance.

"Blue flames are among the hottest and most dangerous flames there are. The only flames hotter are those that appear to be white." Hermione clarified. That impressed even Ron.

"Wow." Was all the flame alchemist said before sitting down. Shrugging, Edward blinked as a box was thrust into his, Al's and Eve's arms.

"I dare not touch these wands. They are very dangerous and have not been touched since I sealed them away." Ollivander actually looked scared when referring to the wands that the three blondes now held. "I should never have made them." He could be heard whispering. Opening the box Edward stared at the beautifully crafted ivory wand with silver trailing up from the base to the tip. The silver almost looked like vines. Gently lifting it from the box he marveled at the intricate detail and was more than ready to see if the wand belonged to him. Before he could wave it though, he was knocked over by a large blast of alchemy. Turning he noticed Envy was in his true dragon form and was encircled by the startling red alchemy. Envy's dragon form was beautiful in itself. A light emerald color it was almost majestic looking at it. All too soon though Envy was back to her female form and looking amused.

"That was one hell of a rush." She gasped in exhilaration. The wand that she was holding was off the deepest black with what appeared to be rubies creating many intricate designs. Looking more closely Edward noticed the alchemical runes carving themselves into the wand as Envy placed it in her pocket. He glanced over towards Al as blue alchemy surrounded him and his wand which was made of pure white wood and gold bands. Once again the runes carved themselves into the wand as the alchemy died down.

"I am kind of concerned about Fullmetal waving his wand now." Roy quipped from his seat.

"Why is that?" Snape questioned. He had also never seen a reaction that powerful before either. Yet, here on the same day he had seen three so far.

"Out of the four of us, Edward is the strongest." Roy whispered. As soon as the entourage heard that they backed as far away as the shop would let them. Giving his wand a little wave he was engulfed in bright gold alchemy almost as if he had done human transmutation again, and literally vanished.

***********At the gate**********

"I see that you have obtained your wand. That is good. You are one step closer to your ultimate goal."

"What the hell is going on? Why were the alchemical reactions so powerful?" Edward demanded. The gate laughed a little.

"Why it wouldn't it be? The very wand that Roy obtained was made from the scales of a fire dragon itself. The core has phoenix blood and tears a very rare and powerful combination. Envy's wand is made of African Blackwood and has pure philosopher's stone as trim. Yes there can be philosopher stones that are pure and not made with human lives. They are extremely rare and take over four million years to produce just one stone. Al's wand is made of Ghost Gum wood and pure gold. The core is very unique as it contains the hair and horn of a 5,000 year old unicorn. Your wand is the most powerful even more so then the wand of destiny, the Elder wand. Your wand is made of Thestral bone, and lined with pure silver. The core contains the blood and cloak of a dementer and blood from a thestral. It is designed for the most powerful of all necromancers. Now I should send you back before everyone begins to panic."

"You are one hell of a pain."

**************************Back at Ollivanders************************

"I really, really hate the gate sometimes." Turning he grinned at the startled group behind him.

"What?"

"Fullmetal you're a pain."

"You're welcome."

"Brother we should go now. He said he doesn't want payment for our wands and wants us out of the shop as soon as we can leave." Al looked somewhat upset.

"Don't worry Al. Some people need to grow up and realize that not everything is as bad as it looks. Ok?" Stepping from the shop, Edward turned to Severus with a questioning look.

"What the hell is a necromancer?"

"I'll explain later."

"Fine. Where to next?" The rest of the trip was uneventful until they got to the Magical Menagerie.

"Brother please?"

"Al we can't have a cat. We don't have time to take care of it back home."

"Please? I promise that I'll be good and I'll take care of it myself. Please?"

"Oh fine. But only if you train it to stay away from me."

"Yay!"

"Have a cat aversion?" Reamus asked.

"No they just hate me. I get tired of being attacked by them." Edward grumbled. Just as he said that, a cat shot out from the back of the room and went right for his face. Sighing he ducked and watched as it crashed into the wall behind him. It was out cold instantly. Looking at the wizards he gave a 'I told you so' look before leaving to look around. Rolling his eyes at half of the animals and creatures he turned as he felt particularly drawn to a display case. Inside was a beautiful creature that looked like a cross of a snake and some kind of winged creature.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Looking up Edward watched as the shop keeper drew closer.

"What are they?"

"Wyrens. Ancient creatures that have no documented origin. They are extremely picky and can live for many centuries in the right hands. They have only ever attached themselves to necromancers. I couldn't help but noticed that you have one depicted on your back."

"Oh that. It is the Flamel symbol. I wear it to honor my teacher." He said wistfully. Just then the wyren looked up at the young alchemist and tilted its head at him.

'**You are young to posses so much power. Yet I sense that you have not even reached the peak of your abilities, young necromancer**.'

'_Are you sure about that? I doubt that I could get any stronger and stay sane.'_

'**Sanity is only the measure society places on one's behavior. You are indeed not yet at the peak of your power. Alchemy is never ending. Energy always has room to grow and magic is limitless. Yet you are hesitant to obtain your true potential. Why?'**

'_So many stupid things have been done because I had so much power. I thought that I could solve the world's problems because I could do so much and because of that so much pain was caused. I need not more power.'_

'**Young yet wise. You now have a respect for that power and understand that it can't accomplish everything and that it is a double edged sword. It is because you understand that, that you will be able to achieve your potential as long as you do not limit yourself. Power comes with responsibility and you have learned the responsibility that is needed. Fear nothing but your own recklessness. Once you have committed yourself to learning and respecting what you have learned you will be fine.'**

'_Is it lonely in there by yourself?'_

'**It is odd that you ask such a thing. But yes it is lonely. However, it will no longer be my prison.'**

'_Why is that?'_

'**Because you are the one that I have been waiting for.** **You are my partner. Let us go together and learn to trust one another.'**

'_I think I understand what you mean. I can feel it to. This feeling that I am drawn to you and that we were meant to be. I agree, let us learn together.'_

"Brother? Are you ok? You have been standing there for a while now."

"I'm fine Alphonse." Turning to the shop keeper he gave a determined look. "This one. He is my familiar."

"Has the wyren made mental contact?"

"Yes."

"Very well then." As they left the menagerie, Edward could feel everyone's eyes upon him. The most annoying though were the looks from the Weasleys. Brushing it off he followed Reamus to Madame Malkins Robes. As soon as he saw them however, chaos broke loose.

"Absolutely not." Edward said with finality.

"Brother, we have to it is part of their dress code. You have to have a robe."

"Nope. Not happening. Al, you know that I can't wear anything besides heavier fabrics due to my … er ….. condition."

"I know brother but there is no other choice. You have to."

"I will not." Severus took the silence as a chance to pull Edward aside.

"Condition?"

"Don't want to talk about it."

"Medical exemptions can be given provided if the staff knows of the condition prior to the beginning of the year."

"Fine." Edward groaned. "My right arm and half of my left leg are prosthetics. I find that lighter, thinner fabrics tend to catch in them and it becomes very uncomfortable. Leather is the most comfortable for me to wear and I make my own clothes anyway." He was embarrassed and he knew it.

'**Relax little one. Not everyone will judge you. Please try to be more open. You may be selective but it is nothing to be ashamed of. You survived a harrowing ordeal and rose above the limitations presented to you by that ordeal. Feel proud.' **

'_I can try. Don't call me little though.'_

'**You truly are unique.'**

"Very well then the staff will be informed and you will not have to wear the uniform."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." As they walked back to the rest of the group Edward could not contain the snort that found its way from his mouth.

"Al you look positively ridiculous."

"Thanks brother."

"Anytime. I take it that teachers do not need a uniform?"

"No there is no set outfit either than to be fully clothed for the teachers."

"Don't worry about it Roy, Hawkeye. I'll get some of the money I have left and convert it to muggle money and buy the fabric to make your clothes ok?"

"Thank you Edward."

"No problem. I believe that Roy would like a frilly pink dress with polka dots and Hawkeye would like something kind of like her normal wear unless I am mistaken. At the very least tell me the fabric and colors you prefer."

"Fullmetal I have never worn a dress in my life and do not intend to start."

"Did you say something?" Severus, Reamus and Sirius started to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. Finally reaching the book store no one could resist laughing as Hermione and Edward sped off and began combing through the shelves quickly.

"I thought that you would have joined your brother, Alphonse."

"I would but knowing him he is looking for the books that make sense and will wind up bringing them home so we can read them later." Once again they began laughing. After nearly an hour of watching Edward run between stacks and continuously mounting books on the counter he looked pleased with himself.

"Ok that will be all for now. Is there any way that you could let me know when more books come in?" He muttered as the frazzled shopkeeper began tallying the books.

"You could join our mailing list if you like."

"Sounds great."

"Fullmetal, you could have left some for later you know."

"Fuhrer bastard, this is just till I can get to the school's library. I doubt that it will last the summer." Striding out of the store even the owner looked startled. The ride back to the OotP headquarters was uneventful and almost instantly they were swept into other rooms as Molly began to make dinner.

"Harry, why don't we go over the people close to you and figure out the ones that you can rely on ok?"

"Sounds good."

*******************************************Fin*********************************

Author's Note: I want to thank Dreamless-Sleep777 for the wyren idea. BDD and Height Dysphoria are real conditions. If anyone wants to learn more I have included some sites you can look at just let me know and I will send you the sites because they do not post well in the story.


	5. Friends and enemies

Finding Life's Second Truth

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist and will be no means make any money off of the writing of this work of pure fiction. The only things I claim are the idea and plot. The wyren isn't even mine.

Author's note: I will make no excuses I forgot. I apologize to those who have been waiting for the update and those that have decided to follow the story. If this post shows up weird it is because I have had to copy and paste it onto the site as the document manager keeps telling me that my html files are not properly formatted or something like that. Oh well. Here is the fifth chapter for FLST.

*****************************Friends and Enemies*************************

Harry leaned back and sighed as Edward made himself comfortable on the bed ready to take notes. He hadn't even considered telling people what he had discovered and as such it was somewhat awkward for him to be having this discussion.

"Ok Harry, what do you know for sure about the people around you?"

"Well I know for a fact that Dumbledore is not trustworthy. His actions over the last four years have me on edge and many of them do not make sense to me. Ginny, Ron, Percy, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley are not trustworthy either they have been acting highly suspicious when I think about them. The twins I can trust without a doubt as they are like me. They like mischief but at the same time they would never do anything to hurt me. Hermione is without a doubt a friend as well. Without her help and cautious nature I would be dead several times over by now and she is usually not very trusting of strangers. Sirius is my godfather and someone I would trust with my life. Reamus is trustworthy as well. I am not sure what to think of Professor Snape as he always seems to contradict himself. He is always the first to suspect me for anything at the school but at the same time he has protected me without being asked. Professor McGonagall is by far the most loyal person I have ever met and is fair to everyone. She is very strict and takes betrayal somewhat personally. Hagrid at the school would help me with anything if I asked but he is a bit scatter brained. That are all of the people that I know personally either than Draco Malfoy."

"You have already put a lot of thought into this haven't you?"

"I began thinking about this before I came here. I realized that Dumbledore was not all that he seemed and well one thing led to another."

"Who is Draco and why are you undecided about him?"

"A classmate from a different dorm. He is brash and seems arrogant but some of his taunts are somewhat forced and he never seems to personally try anything unless Crab and Goyle are near him. I…" Harry trailed off as his mind began to go places that he didn't want it to go.

"You have feelings for him don't you?"

"Well…..ummmmm….yeah I guess so." Harry looked somewhat defeated. Edward laughed and leaned back.

"Try to test him. Tell him something that would seem to be of great interest to your enemies at school, something that would benefit him and see if he tells. Make sure that there is a time limit though if you must. Or if you like I can watch him for a few days and tell you what I think."

"I like the second plan better. Besides I think that I would prefer that he be on our side. Not just for my own personal reasons. He is amazing when it comes to potions and his dad works at the ministry. He would be able to inform us if something was going to happen that would require our attention."

"You have a point. I see that you are getting used to this already."

"Thanks." Harry was blushing and looking away. He was not used to such praise and because of that he did not know how to take it. Shaking his head he looked at Edward who was frowning.

"What?"

"Well it just seems that you are avoiding other people at school, they don't like you, you are really picky or you don't trust easily."

"Well, I guess it is a little of all of it. Sometimes I just get this feeling about other people that I try to listen to but other times, like with Draco it is confused and I don't know what to do."

"Well listen to that feeling. It has saved my life countless times ok?"

"Ok." Leaning back Harry closed his eyes in thought. Since Edward and the others entered his life he was even more confused than he had been before. They knew so much and had been through at least one war before, they had obviously lost people to that war and remained focused and sane. He wondered if he could be as strong as they seemed.

"It's possible you know, getting stronger. Unfortunately it usually happens at the cost of a loved one. I'm going to try and prevent that but I can't do everything there are limits to what I can do." Harry sat straight up and began wondering if Edward was a telepath. Noticing the look on the young wizard's face he laughed.

"Can you read my mind?"

"Hardly. I just needed someone to say and do those things for me but I had to learn the hard way. I suppose in a way it was a good thing. It made me realize my mistakes and learn the price of having power. Something that I didn't understand before and as such abused regularly. It wasn't until I thought that I lost Al that I finally understood that while alchemists could do a lot more than scientists we are still far from being close to even a demi-god. It wasn't supposed to be an IOU with the gate. It was supposed to be my alchemy for the rest of my life. I was willing to sacrifice who I had become to get him back realizing that all my problems started with alchemy. I figured since that was the way that they started I was going to end them with my alchemy. The gate said that I had the right answer and that as much as it would love to accept my offer of equivalence it needed me to have my alchemy more than not. So I consented to an IOU that I had to fulfill no matter what was asked of me. The others decided to come along for the ride I guess." Leaning back against the wall he closed his eyes tiredly. Harry just smiled and then pulled out some of his first year texts.

"Shall we catch you up? We have a lot of material to cover and very little time to cover it." Edward's eyes got a dangerous gleam to them at the sight of the book. Nodding enthusiastically he grabbed his supplies and they headed into the kitchen to work with Al and Roy. The only thing that Edward truly knew was that while he had no enthusiasm learning magic, learning new material and theories was going to be fun.

Five days later…

"I don't get it!" Hermione exclaimed as everyone in the order's headquarters watched as Al, Roy and Edward tore through the books on the table at impressive speed. To the onlookers it seemed as if Edward wasn't even reading the pages, but when Severus tested that theory the first day and Edward recited the book front to back they left the odd habit alone. Actually in truth he recited the book front to back _while _reading another book _and _writing notes for a complex potion. The wizards had tried to understand how they did it. Turning to look over at Envy they sweat dropped to find her leaning back reading at a casual pace while twirling her wand absent mindedly. She was another person they didn't understand. She was a homunculus yet she was different than what their books said she would be. She got a kick out of pissing Edward and Roy off and never cared if they threatened to kill her. Yet when Ron said she looked stupid in one of her dresses she snapped at him and locked herself in her room for hours until Edward drug her out and made Ron apologize for being cruel. Looking over the top of her book she laughed at their expressions.

"What year and topic is it today?"

"History, year four." Hermione whispered. The three of them had already gone through charms (which they had actually found easy), potions (took some getting used to but found both boring and intriguing in Edward's case. Boring for the simplicity but intriguing at the combinations and potential.), ancient runes (which they found some similarities with alchemy) and arithmancy. The speed at which they were learning was incredible.

"Don't worry they will start to slow down if not completely come to a halt soon."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the next book in the pile?"

"Divinization followed by transfiguration." Hermione said in confusion.

"Ah, arithmancy was easy for them because of the science and numbers involved which is similar to alchemy. However, divinization is going to catch them off guard. They are very logical in their thinking and fact based. Because of this the idea that they can tell the future is going to be a joke to them. They may not even take the subject seriously. It's transfiguration we are going to have a problem with, Hermione." The wizard's tilted their head in confusion.

"How come?" Severus spoke up before Envy could.

"Because Transfiguration pretty much has no boundaries. No right and wrong. Animals to water goblets and matches to needles. These are the things that we are used to but things are much different with transmutations. In transmutations it is _impossible_ to turn matches into needles and _forbidden _to turn an animal or human's form. That is why they are going to have a problem." The potions master never once looked up from the paperwork he was doing. The younger wizards tilted their head in confusion while the older wizards looked a little uncomfortable. It was at that point that they heard laughter ring from the kitchen. Groaning they turned their heads to see Edward's head on the table, Roy's lips twitching and Al attempting to hold in his laughter in order to be polite.

"Seeing the future, yeah right! You guys actually believe that you can do this? What a load of bullshit." Edward said wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Brother!"

"It's true. No one can see the future that would imply that it is set in stone. Nothing is set in stone except for the past. Besides even if you did catch a glimpse of what _might _happen it ceases to be the future once you see it."

"Why is that?" Harry asked generally interested in the young alchemist's theory.

"Well let's put it this way. You don't use any sort of divining tool or technique and you spend the whole weekend relaxing. Then when you get to your worst class on Monday you find out you forgot about the test that day and fail spectacularly. From that point on you spend the rest of the year trying to make up that horrible grade. Following so far?" As everyone in the room nodded, even the adults Edward continued.

"Now let's assume you were trying to divine the future and you get a glimpse of the aforementioned events. That _was _the future, _now _it is not because you take measures to prevent that failing grade. The _future_ that you saw has just ceased to exist and as such anything else you may have saw like actually getting a date with the person that you like may never happen because you changed your routine and attitude. As such you cannot truly divine the future as a new future was created." He finished. Everyone in the room was gaping at him. Apparently they had never thought of it that way. After a second Hermione beamed.

"See I told you it was a waste of time."

"Not exactly what I said but close enough." Tilting her head she blinked owlishly.

"What do you mean?"

"There is one other thing that is set in stone either than the past." Edward's head dropped a little and the alchemist got a sullen look.

"What is it?" Ron asked with a snide attitude.

"Death. Death is always set in stone. Everyone dies, when is the only thing you have to ponder about it. Why? Or How? Those questions could be answered and you could avoid death countless times but in the end you will still die. It is a part of the cycle. Even Envy … er …. Eve the supposedly "immortal" homunculus died." Edward explained. The silence in the room was somewhat deafening. After a few seconds Edward tilted his head at Hermione.

"Tell me would you rather be ignorant of a loved one's death and be blindsided by it. Taken completely unprepared or would you rather have some forewarning about it. Time to prepare yourself even a little bit for it so it doesn't catch you off guard?"

"I would honestly prefer neither, but if I had to choose I suppose a little fore warning would be nice." She whispered.

"That is the only use attempting to divine the future can have. Perhaps if someone could have warned us about mom Al and I would have taken it a bit better." He said sadly then shrugged and picked up the transfiguration book. Sighing Envy motioned for everyone to move and cover their ears. Doing as told they were still taken by surprise as Edward's face contorted into unbridled fury and the book was launched across the room.

"What is this crap?! DO you wizards think toying with the natural order of things is a game? That playing with lives is okay? Fun even?" he ranted as Roy and Al picked up their own. Not even a few minutes later they themselves were turning red with rage.

"Chibi, calm down and look at me." Eve said without even looking back up from her own book. Edward spun to look at the homunculus seething.

"You called me chibi again didn't you?" Eve giggled, then straightened up.

"Do you remember what you said when we were in front of the truth? For every shadow there must be light? Same concept for every rule there must be the opposite. In our world this _is _forbidden and twisted. However, the same rules don't apply here not until you begin teaching alchemy and it picks up. Once there is some form of balance then transfiguration may see a big change in what is and isn't allowed but for now none of us has a choice in whether or not we learn it. For now just learn the _spells _that don't involve humans or animals okay? It may be hard to put your beliefs and scientific mind aside for this but unfortunately this is a required class until at least the end of this coming year." Eve explained. Despite the logic behind Eve's explanation the wizards could tell that the young blonde was not convinced.

"I won't do it." He said defiantly. "And I absolutely refuse to allow Al to do it to. That's final." He growled out making Roy shake his head. Picking up the book he starting scanning over the more sane (in his opinion) spells.

"Fullmetal, come look at this." He called out getting the alchemists attention as the teachers were trying to get him to see reason.

"Do I have to?" he growled looking up at the book title.

"Now." Roy's tone held no room for debate and Edward begrudgingly walked over.

"Look here the match turning into a needle, there are no pictures or descriptions of the process itself. This suggests that the wizards don't even know how it works. That means that there is something more to this topic then even they know. In that case there may be a trick that we can use to do the subject _without_ actually doing the subject. Some way to manipulate the way the spells work." The wizards actually felt a chill run down their spines as Edward's bangs fell over his eyes.

"They are using a _vile, twisted and disgusting pervertion _of transfiguration and they don't even understand the way it works? Knowing that they don't know how it works they still use it on animals and expect everything to turn out fine in the end because it's _magic _and _magic _can do anything, right?" Yanking the book out of Roy's hand Edward stormed upstairs leaving behind a few parting words.

"Magic and Wizards make me sick. Crossing the boundaries like that, toying with the lives of animals and people, abusing powers they don't understand and relying on magic to do every single simple task in their life. You're no better than I used to be before I learned that every ounce of power comes with a price and responsibility." Flinching as his door slammed shut Eve sighed sinking into her chair.

"Well that went well."

"WELL? YOU CALL THAT WELL?" Ron screamed pointing in the direction that Edward went.

"Well, yes as a matter of fact. No one has broken bones, horsey doesn't need a hospital, I haven't died a few times and no alchemy was involved so yes. Plus he took the book with him."

"DO I even want to know?" Sirius sighed tiredly.

"The fact that brother took the book with him means that he has every intention of dissecting transfiguration and finding out how it works. But I do have to agree with him on one thing. Why do you wizards use magic to move chairs, clean dishes, cook food, stir tea, knit and other easy tasks that you should have absolutely no problem doing yourself? I can see using magic to clean up potions considering how dangerous they can be, but to wash a table? That is a gross abuse of power with so little understanding of the responsibility that comes with it. People like that don't deserve to have any power." Al summarized before picking up another book. This time it was Care of Magical Creatures. He then sweat dropped at the squirming book.

"If you keep moving like that I am going to drop you on accident. I know you probably don't want me to read you considering that is probably the same as stripping someone naked and poking and prodding uninvited, but I'll try to make it as fast as I can alright. If you're good I'll even take the belt off." He tried reasoning and before anyone could say anything the book fell still. "Thanks." The wizards could only shake their heads at the alchemists. They were most definitely a strange lot.

It wasn't until a week later that anyone heard from or saw Edward again. They had been eating lunch when a shout had rang out from upstairs and Edward came running down excitedly.

"Al, Roy watch this." He said holding out a needle _and _a matchstick. Setting them down and using the spell to change the matchstick everyone's jaws dropped as they merely swapped places. Edward was beaming triumphantly.

"It's not even close to transmutation. It's only a mere swap of already existing materials. The only thing I still don't understand is _how _the swap works. As far as I know a dimensional transfer without the help of something like the truth is impossible. If it wasn't then shouldn't an alchemist have stumbled on it by now? With all the research that's been done on how to more effectively and safely get troops behind the enemy lines to take out key officials you would think someone would have caught on to something like this." As Edward began a tangent everyone was staring at the needle and the matchstick in shock. Especially the wizards. An alchemist had just shattered everything they thought that they knew about transfiguration and, ironically, taken the magic out of the subject.

"Well, damn." Sirius summed it up for everyone. Hermione however was tilting her head in confusion.

"Edward, if transfiguration is nothing more than a mere transfer, what about animagus?"

"Huh? Animagus?"

"Wizards that can take the form of animals."

"I can show you." Sirius volunteered wearily. Nodding his head enthusiastically, Edward watched with rapt attention as Sirius shifted into a big black dog. Circling him slowly he began nodding his head at something only he could hear. After a few minutes he knelt and placed his hand on Sirius's head.

"Again." Doing as told he shifted back. Edward was beaming once more.

"Basically a simple shift of form. Your chemical makeup didn't change completely into a canine's. But I can only surmise that when you do that you get the instincts of the animal that you shift into?"

"Yes."

"I see. Somehow wizards have found a way to manipulate both their alchemical and magical core to temporarily induce a chimera transformation." Roy, Al and Eve's jaws dropped and Severus paled slightly.

"Would there be any long lasting side effects?" he inquired.

"That's the thing normally yes there would be. But the inclusion of the magical core as opposed to just using the alchemical core negates that. That doesn't mean that there aren't any. They are just temporary. Do the shift to and back again. Then when you shift back Sirius, as soon as you are human again, I want you to try and do a spell." Nodding, Sirius did as he was told and wasn't the only one that was surprised when nothing happened.

"I thought so. I can only imagine that the longer you stay in that form before you shift back the less time it takes. The spell didn't work because both of his cores were drained completely. Magical and Alchemical depletion. Granted I say in five maybe ten minutes you should be able to cast spells again." Having said that he dropped into Roy's lap and promptly began to eat his lunch.

"FULLMETAL!" It seemed that Edward and the alchemists had become a normal part of their routine.

**************T.B.C**************

AN: Hey there everyone. Again I apologize for the late chapter. I thought that would be a good place to leave off. Once again if you find any grammar or spelling problems (like _and _being where _any _should be) please tell me and I will get around to fixing them as soon as I can.


	6. Revelations

Finding Life's Second Truth

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist nor do I own Harry Potter. I make no money from this. The formerly named shows belong to their creators. I only own the plot.

AN: I want to thank everyone that has stayed with me despite the lack of updates. There are a few reviews I would like to address and thanks to give before the next chapter. Oh and I lied in the previous chapters as I noticed that at first I omitted Izumi and then added her in chapter three I believe. So the team that went with Edward is Hawkeye, Al, Roy, and Izumi.

**Suzululu4moe**: Yes Edward did ask the leader of the government to go with him. Yes leaders do often have little vacation time, however, this is Edward. He never cared much for the rules or other obvious restrictions. He asked Roy because he trusted him to have his back in a fight. I don't like Narcissa because of how she is portrayed in the book. I found her description to make her arrogant, narcissistic and snobby. If she truly wanted to protect Draco she would have done something much sooner. I haven't watched any of the movies since the Goblet of Fire. I can't stand the way that the book was chopped up for them. I completely forgot about Izumi, ty for reminding me.

**Gundamzbd36**: Actually yes they will become friends. I have always thought that those two would make good friends given their cynical nature and the way that they always do things their own way. Even to the point to of giving up everything to protect those that they cared about.

**Lizzybear54**: Thanks for the review. I am glad that I am not the only one that thinks that the wizards are portrayed as very lazy.

**ReginaDC21**: Yes I really did forget about them. I am going to try and bring them back into the story hopefully in a way that makes sense.

**BulletWitch1985**: Thanks. Of course Eve will bash Ron a lot. I never liked him. Besides he is just too easy to pick on.

**RaptorQueen75**: I'm not the only one that didn't like them? Thank goodness.

*****************************************Revelations***********************

Since Edward's temper tantrum over transfiguration and the subsequent explanation of how some of the more complex subjects worked, things had returned to normal in the Black house. There was still some tension around when they would use magic without needing to but the alchemist did give them a slight break as it had been ingrained in them. The only big outburst that had occurred was when Albus had apparated into the house right next to Edward and had almost lost his head. Of course the alchemists had found it funny and had insisted that he had only himself to blame. I mean what part of suddenly appearing next to someone that has already indicated that he has been in a life or death situation repeatedly is a good idea? It wasn't until the last week of July that they ran into their first bump.

"Edward we need to know exactly what you will need in order to teach your class and if there are any books that you will need. Furthermore the ministry is demanding that you turn in a comprehensive lesson plan and syllabus for review before they will accept the class as legitimate. I really don't understand as they have never had much of an interest in the classes at Hogwarts before." McGonagall announced as she came into the order's headquarters. Rolling his eyes, Edward held out what appeared to be a set of books.

"They are arranged in order to fifth year and up. Syllabi for the classes are the first page and the basics are on the very top. I was already informed that they may need that. Also I was told that I would need both ministry and school permissions for the consequences I will impose for the class. A mere discipline is not nearly enough to place the severity of the crimes into perspective. I need to know however what kind of physical fitness classes the school has. If the body isn't strong enough to handle the minor rebounds they will never survive the class in one piece. They will need a physical fitness routine." He said without even looking up. McGonagall had to admit that she was very impressed. He was already a few steps ahead of the ministry.

"Hey Edward? Where did the two women that came here with you go?" Hermione suddenly called out.

"Teacher didn't handle the trip very well and the gate is working on fixing the issue. There is no point in having her come here to save the world if she can't function properly. Hawkeye has been by her side the whole time." He replied still not taking his eyes from the book he was reading. "Also McGonagall, if the ministry is taking such an interest in the school now that means that the death eaters are moving faster than we anticipated. They are trying to get someone into the school. More than likely as the DADA instructor since you seem to have a lot of trouble in keeping a teacher. That means that they are going to try and stunt Harry's growth and regulate what everyone is teaching. This way they will have a better understanding of what the school's defenses are like and Harry's skill level. I would anticipate on someone close to the minister that has a dislike of anyone different. Probably a stern believer that Moldy shorts hasn't come back."

"Delores Umbridge. She's the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic. A vile woman if you ask me. The anti-werewolf laws are her doing. She despises muggles and squibs deeming them inferior to herself." McGonagall huffed. It was obvious from her tone that she hated the woman. Actually from the look on Severus's face she wasn't the only one.

"Out of curiosity what went wrong with Izumi?" Hermione questioned. Edward only shook his head.

"That is her story to tell not mine. Hermione a word of advice?" Edward called out making the young witch turn.

"Edward?"

"Curiosity is a good thing in doses. However, unless you pick when to investigate and when not to you are no better than a busy body. As hard as it is you really don't have to know everything." Hermione blushed before heading out of the room.

"Thank you. We have been trying to teach her that since she entered Hogwarts. Unfortunately I think that we have been doing it wrong." Severus quipped. Then he tilted his head. "What are you reading?"

"Oh this? I'm just memorizing the laws in case I need them. Which from the sounds of it I will. I will need them a lot to deal with the bitch." McGonagall had been warned of his language issues but still cringed when he swore.

"Well, as for the physical education the only thing similar to what you want, is quiditch which is more of a sports team than anything so not everyone plays." McGonagall answered. Edward shook his head in exasperation.

"You wizards truly are lazy. Being physically healthy would also improve on your spell work. Looks like I will need to implement something then. You'll need this to for the ministry. A Physical education curriculum. If teacher is back on her feet when we leave I will be placing her in charge of the physical fitness part of the class as I will be needed elsewhere." He said handing what appeared to be another book. "Oh the students will also need another set of clothes something loose but not too loose and definitely nothing tight. Long sleeves and pants for winter and short sleeves and shorts for summer. We wouldn't want them overheating. As for materials I will need a lot of chalk, smaller desk sized chalk boards for the students, the indicated levels of material mostly minerals and stuff." Nodding McGonagall left the room satisfied, he was most definitely prepared for almost anything. It wasn't until dinner that night that their routine changed.

As everyone sat down for dinner they couldn't help but notice that Izumi and Hawkeye had joined them. Edward nodded at Izumi and Hawkeye then took a seat next to one of the only people he truly respected. Izumi was looking around in interest and said nothing until half way through the meal.

"Edward, have you been doing your katas in the morning and before bed?" Edward nearly choked on his food and looked up at her slightly pale.

"Um sorry teacher. I have been so busy trying to catch up to the level I need to be at to teach at the school I completely forgot." The wizards watched in surprise as Izumi's eye twitched and Edward flinched a little.

"You and Al will be sparing with me before you go to bed then. I can tell he hasn't been doing his as well." She ordered without looking up from her food. Severus blinked as both Al and Ed whimpered slightly.

"Yes teacher." They chorused.

"Um Ms. Izumi, why did Edward and Alphonse flinch when you suggested that they spar with you?" Hermione questioned. Izumi grinned.

"First Mrs. I'm married and second who do you think taught them how to fight and fine-tuned their alchemy?" she replied calmly. The wizards openly gaped at the woman that Edward seemed to shy away from.

"Really? Amazing. That mark that you have and Edward wears on his cloak that's the flamel symbol right? Originating from Nicolas Flamel right?"

"I suppose that's true. You seem to be a truly observant and curious girl but as I told Edward many times before, while curiosity can allow you to gain knowledge you may need in the future it can also get you killed. I know that there are many other questions that you wish to ask me, but I suggest before you do you ask yourself if you really need to know the answer or if you are just fishing for information." Izumi responded evenly. Edward blushed as several eyebrows raised at the veiled reprimand. After a second Ron spoke up with a question of his own.

"So does that mean that the dimension you come from had or currently has a sorcerer's stone to? We had one but Dumbledore destroyed it." He said without thinking. Edward blinked and tilted his head.

"Sorcerer's stone I don't think I have ever heard of it. What does it do?"

"It turns lead into gold and makes the elixir of life that can make someone immortal." Ron boasted. Everyone paled as they felt the temperature drop several degrees. Edward's eyes were hidden behind his hair as he spoke. The tone sending shivers down everyone's back.

"Was it a red stone? Almost blood red?"

"Yeah I think so. I never actually saw it but Harry did. Actually he held it for a while. He was keeping it from you know who." The air got even colder as Edward stood up.

"Harry was it a blood red color?"

"Yeah it was."

"What happened to it?"

"I don't know. I had it when I lost consciousness but when I woke up in the hospital wing it was gone and Dumbledore said that he and Flamel had decided that it was for the best to destroy it. That was the last that it was mentioned." Edward's fist clenched as he marched over to the fireplace and grabbed some of the floo powder. In an instant he had started a fire call.

"Where is it? Where is the stone?" he demanded as soon as Dumbledore responded.

"What stone my boy?"

"I am not your boy and I am referring to the sorcerer's stone that you claim was destroyed. Now where is it?" Edward growled at the aging wizard.

"I can assure you it was destroyed. Now if there is nothing else?" No one expected Edward to reach through the fireplace and drag Dumbledore to the other side nor to pin him against the wall.

"Do not try to lie about that accursed stone. I want to know where it is. There is no way it could have been destroyed in this dimension as the method to destroy the stone was only recently discovered in ours. Now where is it?" Edward's voice was rising with each demand. Even Severus looked startled by the change in demeanor. It wasn't just Edward either. All of the alchemists and Eve looked furious. When Dumbledore replied once again that it had been destroyed, Edward transmuted him to the wall.

"Eve can you tell where it is?"

"I can try. I'm not connected to it like I was before, but it should still give off the same smell to me." She said standing. Sniffing the aging wizard she made a face before tilting her head.

"He's been near it recently. It's probably somewhere in his office. I can try to go and get it. I should be able to find it."

"Be careful. Who knows what he's done to protect that abomination." Nodding Eve used the floo to quickly disappear from the house. Edward turned and sneered at the older man.

"I told you not to lie to me. I know how those things are made and I am one of the few that can destroy them. If Flamel really did make it then he would never consent to destroy it now would he have let it out of his sight willingly. Unless he knew for a fact that he could access it whenever he wanted or needed." Edward sat down and began tapping his fingers on the table in irritation.

"Were there any periods of time that a lot of people died and not from war?" Edward suddenly questioned. Hermione tilted her head before nodding.

"In 1348 England was hit by the Black plague, it was believed to have come from Asia, though no one knows for sure. The major period of deaths occurred between 1348 and 1350. It was during that time that an estimated 1.5 million people died from the plague. After 1350 the plague would strike again at least six more times before the end of the century. Originally it was believed to have been transmitted by rats and fleas but that's just conjecture. It wasn't just England that was hit either although compared to most of Europe they were hit much later. Approximately two years after some of the continent. An estimated 75-200 million people all across Europe died from it that was approximately 30-60% of Europe's total population." Hermione rattled off. Whatever pride she had felt from the knowledge was gone when she noticed the very grim looks.

"Does anyone know when the stone was made?" Edward asked looking nauseous. After a minute everyone shook their heads. Edward growled to himself and then jumped as Eve came through the fireplace in her original form and looking quite aggravated.

"What happened?"

"I died twice getting this stupid thing." She growled changing back to her preferred form and throwing the stone on the table. Edward glared at the wizened wizard before turning back to the stone.

"This was made using human lives. I suspecting that since no country's population disappeared over night that Flamel managed to mix magic and alchemy to create the stone using a specified method. More than likely mimicking the effects of the plague or even spreading it himself to England in order to harvest the souls needed for this thing. I'd say at least half of the victims in that two year period are in this stone. That sick freak." He spat. Now that the wizards knew the connection between the stone, the alchemist's reactions and the questions about the plague they too looked very ill. "The use of the stone destroys one human soul each time. This elixir you spoke of was more than likely also a mix of alchemy and magic, rather potions, to make a liquid form that could be ingested without damaging the stone too much. That bastard!" Edward began to pace and honestly no one really wanted to talk after what they found out.

"Fullmetal, you know what we have to do. Despite the circumstances." Roy whispered eyes fixed on the stone.

"I know. Give me a minute to draw the array. The last thing I want to do is lose my focus and blow us up or something." He said producing a piece of chalk from his pocket. The wizards watched as he carefully drew the array double checking for any flaws before placing the stone in the center. Before anyone could say anything the array lit up and the stone seemingly melted and then vanished from sight. Releasing Dumbledore from his prison he glared at the wizard before whispering an 'I'm not hungry anymore' excuse and heading up the stairs. When Izumi looked towards the older wizard, Dumbledore was gone. Having apparated out of the building.

"Well that was fun." Izumi quipped before finishing her dinner and heading up the stairs after the blonde alchemist with his dinner.

"Hardly." Al grumbled. He was staring at his plate pushing his food around in circles. The mood was pretty much the same around the table. No one knew what to say or think so they finished what they could of their dinner and headed to bed. The before bed spar completely forgotten.

***************TBC****************

A/N: Sorry if that seemed rushed at the end. I was running out of steam. Hopefully that wasn't too bad. I tried to seamlessly insert Izumi and Hawkeye back into the story so hopefully I didn't do to bad. Once again I apologize for the late update. I had this half typed and forgot to finish it so it was floating in limbo for awhile. I'll try not to do that again. Almost to Hogwarts. I'll try to get them at least on the train next chapter. I will admit that I didn't proof read the chapter so if there are any glaring problems let me know and I will try to fix them. Ja ne!


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